Direct customs clearance of air cargo has recently been introduced at Guwahati airport located beside the Brahmaputra River in the northeast Indian state of Assam.The facility at Guwahati proved very beneficial to farmers who could export agricultural products directly and according to the regional executive director of the Airports Authority of India, northeast, D K Kamra, similar cargo complexes would come up in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Imphal and Agartala."Direct customs clearance of air cargo benefited farmers and exporters, who can now send their produce to any part of the globe through air cargo," he said.At a recent meeting on air cargo development at the Assam Administrative Staff College, farmers and exporters demanded that air freight charges from Guwahati to the Gulf and European nations be similar to the charges from Kolkata. There was also a demand for better cold storage facilities, buyer-seller meets, lab-testing facilities and state organic certification agencies. The meeting was organised by the industries and commerce department in collaboration with AAI and AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Ltd.Additional chief secretary to the state industries and commerce department, Ravi Capoor, said fresh vegetables, fruits and spices sourced from various districts of Assam are now being directly exported to markets in Dubai and the UAE.The programme was also attended by managing director of the Assam Industrial Development Corporation K K Dwivedi and commissioner of the state industries and commerce department Puru Gupta, reports the Times of India.